7.25 am tomorrow morning : Flying over to Sydney for speedy awesome weekend of Superstarness (ie seeing the majority of the Harris clan, woohoo!!) to assist in celebrating the 'sparkling' Susie's 21st :D
and then...
Monday = entering the marvellous (to keep with alliteration) Mizza's household for and entire MONTH (that's right, a whole month! No placing bets on who'll squabble first :oP) with my beautiful Sleepover Club girls...
Can't wait!! Now I'd better go pack ...
Friday, March 31, 2006
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
diamonds are forever ... or are they?
Two posts in one week, that's gotta be a record for me!
Has anyone seen the filmclip for 'Stupid Girls' by Pink? At first I dismissed the song as being overly cynical and silly, but i actually found myself chuckling, and then *gasp* laughing when I watched it the other day. It's funny and says a lot about how much we judge things on outward appearance in our culture- especially girls in how they (we) act sometimes. That's not to say that we don't place value on 'deeper' things and look past the surface to character, but that's just it-there always seems to be a bit of friction between judging by outward appearance, and not caring about that stuff. Like thinking on the one hand 'my gosh, I can't believe that person is wearing that, they must be a bit unsavoury' or something, and at the same time 'they look interesting, I wonder what their life story is'. Or seeing a show like Australian Story, and then in the same hour watching 'Australia's Next Top Model'.
Lol that's a bit random and not well expressed, but there's my random thought for the day :P I hope I'm not turning into a cynical arts student!
Has anyone seen the filmclip for 'Stupid Girls' by Pink? At first I dismissed the song as being overly cynical and silly, but i actually found myself chuckling, and then *gasp* laughing when I watched it the other day. It's funny and says a lot about how much we judge things on outward appearance in our culture- especially girls in how they (we) act sometimes. That's not to say that we don't place value on 'deeper' things and look past the surface to character, but that's just it-there always seems to be a bit of friction between judging by outward appearance, and not caring about that stuff. Like thinking on the one hand 'my gosh, I can't believe that person is wearing that, they must be a bit unsavoury' or something, and at the same time 'they look interesting, I wonder what their life story is'. Or seeing a show like Australian Story, and then in the same hour watching 'Australia's Next Top Model'.
Lol that's a bit random and not well expressed, but there's my random thought for the day :P I hope I'm not turning into a cynical arts student!
Monday, March 20, 2006
I don't know how it happens, one second I'm outside reading stuff for history, and the next I find myself inside reading blogs. How did I get here? It's like I'm driven by some strange force called procrastination ... I'm starting to get sick of that word! Actually the topic we're doing at the moment is really interesting - the Reformation and all that entails (much more interesting than the trade routes and empire expansion of the last couple of weeks ... well, easier to understand anyway)
Rode into Uni again today, which was good fun and surprisingly quicker to get there on the way there than the bus. I had to sneakily go cross-country on the closed off Dequetteville Tce amidst big pieces of machinery and massive seating stands for Clipsal- already there are so many roads closed off for it, it's crazy! I went thru the parklands and avoided most of the main roads - it's so freaky when a massive bus suddenly starts looming up behind you - I always think of the worst case scenario on main rds and imagine someone opening their car door, only for me to ride right on into it, or swerving into the bus or something dramatic, but there were no such dire happenings... Actually it was quite pleasant!
Philosophy's been interesting - partic the tutorials. I realised that kind of for the first time I'm in a debating situation with people who (in terms of Christianity, or belief in God) largely think a lot differently than I do. That's the reason that I decided to do the subject though, to be challenged out of my comfort zones. We were analysing an argument about intelligent design (this thing called the Paley's Watch theory - basically that if we see a watch or piece of intricate mechanism, we assume that it has a maker. In the same way all around us, in nature and the universe, are 'intricate pieces of natural mechanism's' all inter-relating and working together in complex ways, and thus we can infer that there is an ultimate Maker) the other day, and I was a bit surprised by my natural reaction to pull back a bit and be defensive (in my mind anyway) about my own beliefs. I guess it highlighted to me that I want to work these things out for myself, and can't always lean on other peoples opinions to pull me through, if that kind of makes sense.
In other news, it's almost a week since Lib left us for the States - everyone keep thinking of and praying for her!! Sounds like she's having a pretty rad time already, even if she's a bit homesick :P
back to the books...
Rode into Uni again today, which was good fun and surprisingly quicker to get there on the way there than the bus. I had to sneakily go cross-country on the closed off Dequetteville Tce amidst big pieces of machinery and massive seating stands for Clipsal- already there are so many roads closed off for it, it's crazy! I went thru the parklands and avoided most of the main roads - it's so freaky when a massive bus suddenly starts looming up behind you - I always think of the worst case scenario on main rds and imagine someone opening their car door, only for me to ride right on into it, or swerving into the bus or something dramatic, but there were no such dire happenings... Actually it was quite pleasant!
Philosophy's been interesting - partic the tutorials. I realised that kind of for the first time I'm in a debating situation with people who (in terms of Christianity, or belief in God) largely think a lot differently than I do. That's the reason that I decided to do the subject though, to be challenged out of my comfort zones. We were analysing an argument about intelligent design (this thing called the Paley's Watch theory - basically that if we see a watch or piece of intricate mechanism, we assume that it has a maker. In the same way all around us, in nature and the universe, are 'intricate pieces of natural mechanism's' all inter-relating and working together in complex ways, and thus we can infer that there is an ultimate Maker) the other day, and I was a bit surprised by my natural reaction to pull back a bit and be defensive (in my mind anyway) about my own beliefs. I guess it highlighted to me that I want to work these things out for myself, and can't always lean on other peoples opinions to pull me through, if that kind of makes sense.
In other news, it's almost a week since Lib left us for the States - everyone keep thinking of and praying for her!! Sounds like she's having a pretty rad time already, even if she's a bit homesick :P
back to the books...
Saturday, March 04, 2006
Woohoo for CFS sufferers!!
Some of you would probably know that when I was around 9 I got CFS - Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I'm 95% recovered from it now (I still get the foggy brain type symptoms and tiredness effects me a fair bit, but I don't know if that's just me anyway :P) which I feel pretty lucky about because for a lot of people it can be much worse than how it was, and last a lot longer. But ANYWAY there's a good chance that you've known someone with CFS or heard about it in some form, and you may be familiar with the 'real, not real' sort of debate about it because scientists have found it hard to find physical 'proof' apart from lists of common symptoms or circumstances. BUT read this article, I was so excited when I read it. That may sound like a strange thing to say, but theres so much stigma about CFS, and a lot of sufferers find it so frustrating when they can't put a label on what they've got and think they're going crazy, or it's just all in the mind (Leigh Hatcher's book 'I'm Not Crazy, I'm Just a Little Unwell' explains his experiences of that particularly well and honestly) that reading something like this is a huge relief, and a big breakthrough.
" Brain injury linked to chronic fatigue
New research into chronic fatigue syndrome suggests that it may be caused by temporary brain injuries resulting from a bout of glandular fever.
Australian scientists have monitored the health of people infected with the Epstein-Barr virus, which causes glandular fever.
Professor Andrew Lloyd, from the University of New South Wales, says they have found that those who go on to develop chronic fatigue syndrome are likely to have suffered trauma to the brain during their illness.
"It's an injury in the sense that it wasn't there - people were perfectly well - something in the acute phase of the illness went wrong and then it slowly recovers like a broken arm or a broken leg," he said.
"It's just that in this case its taking weeks to months rather than days or quicker."
Professor Lloyd says the findings show that chronic fatigue syndrome is a real condition.
"I personally have never had a doubt that it's real because there are people who have got a set of symptoms that are unexplained," he said.
"The real versus not real thing is often caught up in the mistaken notion about malingering or it's all depression but really there's no evidence to support that.
"So in a nutshell yes, it clearly supports the argument that it's real." "
" Brain injury linked to chronic fatigue
New research into chronic fatigue syndrome suggests that it may be caused by temporary brain injuries resulting from a bout of glandular fever.
Australian scientists have monitored the health of people infected with the Epstein-Barr virus, which causes glandular fever.
Professor Andrew Lloyd, from the University of New South Wales, says they have found that those who go on to develop chronic fatigue syndrome are likely to have suffered trauma to the brain during their illness.
"It's an injury in the sense that it wasn't there - people were perfectly well - something in the acute phase of the illness went wrong and then it slowly recovers like a broken arm or a broken leg," he said.
"It's just that in this case its taking weeks to months rather than days or quicker."
Professor Lloyd says the findings show that chronic fatigue syndrome is a real condition.
"I personally have never had a doubt that it's real because there are people who have got a set of symptoms that are unexplained," he said.
"The real versus not real thing is often caught up in the mistaken notion about malingering or it's all depression but really there's no evidence to support that.
"So in a nutshell yes, it clearly supports the argument that it's real." "
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Autumn leaves fall and are swept out of sight ...
Welcome to Autumn! I'm appropriately listening to 'The First Day of Autumn' by Enya which is making me think the end of Summer's not so bad. Summer's my favourite time of year and I've had a fantasticly busy Summer, but Autumn is beautiful, and I'm sure will bring lots of challenging but exciting new experiences...
One of which is starting Uni this week! On the one hand I think it'll take a bit more getting used to than I anticipated, but on the other I've seen SO many people I know around campus and town that it reminds me I'm not alone in it all. I've also realised just how spoilt I've been for the past 5 years living next door to school - having to navigate my way into town by bus, bike or car is something I'll have to get used to (and isn't so bad a thing - biking will be great excercise, and I like going on bus' and people watching or contemplating). I think I'm liking all the subjects I chose - particularly Intro to Latin and Ancient Greek which'll be hard but fun. The other subjects I'm doing are Classics (no surprises there!), Philosophy and History, and also anthropology in the second semester which I'm really looking forward to. Oh and annoyingly though I managed to get through the entirity of year 12 without getting sick, I've managed to get some wierd fevery cold thing this week :S Oh well I can't complain really, a chance to get some good rest in :) It has meant though that I've found it a bit harder to be really 'with it' and make more of an effort to introduce myself to new people ...
Just to work backwards I also had a really good weekend - much of which has already been documented on Phili's blog articulately! An encouraging and thought provoking EFAC introduction to the Archbishop Jeffory Driver on Friday night - his own address was encouraging, and then the question time directed at him thought provoking. It brought my thinking about the 'women' issues such as ordination and in the home to the surface again, which is great! Saturday brought Ignition - a one stop training shop - where I did the youth ministry stream which was helpful and, dare I say it, ignited some ideas inside me. That night I accompanied Dan, Phili, Ali, Emily, Nick and Pat to 'Pluck' (a string trio - the two guys playing violin, and rather petite but agile girl playing cello) and then out to a fun Chinese dinner on Gouger street. Lots of fun and craziness! Sunday morning I did Sparklers for Mum (she was on the Women's Retreat, which went really well by the sounds of it) which was just fun - they're so gorgeous at that age (3-4 or 5ish), the comments they come out with! Then onto a Pancake Kitchen belated birthday lunch for Miz with Anne and Jordan, where we pored over a wedding magazine, and admired the rather sizeable ring we got her (eat that Jordan!). Before SAS I went to the new prayer meeting (which I'd forgotten to go to the previous fortnight) which I found quite encouraging - I find it hard to be disclipined in praying sometimes, so praying so specifically for prayer points in a group before the service helped shift my mindset to be more in line with God, and calm my scurrying mind.
Anyway, I'd better go get an early night as promised. Hopefully I'll sleep better than last night! *NB Thank goodness for Dad's (read: mine) - I felt very cared for as I was dropped off and picked up from each of my lectures, sniffling and keeping off a fever!
One of which is starting Uni this week! On the one hand I think it'll take a bit more getting used to than I anticipated, but on the other I've seen SO many people I know around campus and town that it reminds me I'm not alone in it all. I've also realised just how spoilt I've been for the past 5 years living next door to school - having to navigate my way into town by bus, bike or car is something I'll have to get used to (and isn't so bad a thing - biking will be great excercise, and I like going on bus' and people watching or contemplating). I think I'm liking all the subjects I chose - particularly Intro to Latin and Ancient Greek which'll be hard but fun. The other subjects I'm doing are Classics (no surprises there!), Philosophy and History, and also anthropology in the second semester which I'm really looking forward to. Oh and annoyingly though I managed to get through the entirity of year 12 without getting sick, I've managed to get some wierd fevery cold thing this week :S Oh well I can't complain really, a chance to get some good rest in :) It has meant though that I've found it a bit harder to be really 'with it' and make more of an effort to introduce myself to new people ...
Just to work backwards I also had a really good weekend - much of which has already been documented on Phili's blog articulately! An encouraging and thought provoking EFAC introduction to the Archbishop Jeffory Driver on Friday night - his own address was encouraging, and then the question time directed at him thought provoking. It brought my thinking about the 'women' issues such as ordination and in the home to the surface again, which is great! Saturday brought Ignition - a one stop training shop - where I did the youth ministry stream which was helpful and, dare I say it, ignited some ideas inside me. That night I accompanied Dan, Phili, Ali, Emily, Nick and Pat to 'Pluck' (a string trio - the two guys playing violin, and rather petite but agile girl playing cello) and then out to a fun Chinese dinner on Gouger street. Lots of fun and craziness! Sunday morning I did Sparklers for Mum (she was on the Women's Retreat, which went really well by the sounds of it) which was just fun - they're so gorgeous at that age (3-4 or 5ish), the comments they come out with! Then onto a Pancake Kitchen belated birthday lunch for Miz with Anne and Jordan, where we pored over a wedding magazine, and admired the rather sizeable ring we got her (eat that Jordan!). Before SAS I went to the new prayer meeting (which I'd forgotten to go to the previous fortnight) which I found quite encouraging - I find it hard to be disclipined in praying sometimes, so praying so specifically for prayer points in a group before the service helped shift my mindset to be more in line with God, and calm my scurrying mind.
Anyway, I'd better go get an early night as promised. Hopefully I'll sleep better than last night! *NB Thank goodness for Dad's (read: mine) - I felt very cared for as I was dropped off and picked up from each of my lectures, sniffling and keeping off a fever!
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